Ziggy Marley started smoking weed at the age of NINE

Ziggy Marley has revealed that he started smoking marijuana at the age of nine.

The 50-year-old musician "can't even remember" when he had his first puff of the psychoactive drug but he knows he was "too young" to dabble with cannabis and only did it because his father Bob Marley - who died at the age of 36 from a four-year battle with skin cancer - encouraged him to do so as part of their religion.

According to Reader's Digest, Ziggy said: "Smoking marijuana wasn't considered a bad thing in Rastafarian culture. It wasn't something to hide from the kids.

"I can't even remember when I had my first spliff, I was around nine. I was very young, too young. I wouldn't have let myself do it in my father's place.

"But it was a part of our religion - we're one of those ancient cultures with traditions that modern society wouldn't accept."

Although a lot of people around him were smoking marijuana for "fun", Ziggy actually relied on the drug to strengthen his relationship with spirituality.

He explained: "When I first consciously decided to smoke weed as a teenager, I approached it from a spiritual point of view. It's given me more insight into myself and into my spirituality, and I use it as a form of influence when reading scriptures and books about spirituality. I use it to give me a different perspective so that my mind isn't in the same place that it normally is. I turn into a shaman. It was never just about getting high - I educated myself about it in terms of how Yogis in India use it and I went down that route with it, I didn't go down the fun route."

Ziggy recently launched a campaign to encourage users to "grow your own" in a bid to rid pot of pesticides as he wants to ensure the weed he inhales is organic.

He said at the time: "It is up to us, the people, to make sure the people's plant doesn't actually cause people pain. Ask questions and demand answers, and let those in the industry know that you will not accept anything that includes pesticides. And if all else fails, grow your own. The most effective way to avoid potentially poisoning yourself with pesticides is to grow and use your own."

-bangSHOWBIZ!